A FATAL accident inquiry may be held into the death of the son of
millionaire motor dealer Arnold Clark, who was found dead in his
Helensburgh home early on Wednesday.
Mr Norman Clark, 33, is understood to have had a neck injury. He was
found in the kitchen of his detached villa in Lever Road, near
Helensburgh Golf Club, by his live-in girlfriend and work colleague,
Alice Robinson. Ms Robinson phoned 999 just before 6.30am.
It is understood Mr Clark asphyxiated himself. No-one else was
involved in the incident.
The couple worked at the Macharg Rennie and Lindsay group, in Partick,
Glasgow, one of more than 30 outlets operated by the Arnold Clark
Organisation in Scotland.
Ms Robinson's two teenage sons are also understood to have stayed with
the couple in Helensburgh. Mr Clark was recently divorced from his wife,
Caroline, and leaves an eight-year-old daughter, Kirsty. He was one of
four sons from Arnold Clark's first marriage.
His death was initially treated as suspicious. But senior police
officers confirmed late on Wednesday night that it was being treated as
a tragic accident.
The procurator-fiscal at Dumbarton, Mr Christopher Donnelly, confirmed
yesterday that a report would be submitted in due course to the Lord
Advocate, who would in turn decide whether or not a fatal accident
inquiry would be held.
A mandatory inquiry can be ordered only if a person is in legal
custody at the time of death or dies at their place of work. In other
cases an inquiry is held at the Lord Advocate's discretion.
Employees of the Arnold Clark Organisation throughout Scotland were
said to be still stunned yesterday by news of the death of the car
magnate's son.
The secretary of Mr Glen Gall, joint managing director of the motor
group, said no-one at the company was available for comment.
She added: ''It is purely a tragic and private bereavement.''
Mr David Clark, financial director and secretary of the Scottish Motor
Trade Association, said: ''Arnold is one of our most highly respected
members. We were absolutely horrified to hear of his son's death.
''Apart from being a top quality businessman, Arnold is also a very
nice person. We regret this tragedy has happened to a man who has put so
much into the motor trade.''
Mr Clark and his second wife, Philomena, are said to have been
devastated by the tragedy. They have two sons and four daughters --
John, Adam, Celia, Lucy, Stephanie and Amy.
The Arnold Clark Organisation is among the UK's 20 biggest car dealing
groups which controls more than 12% of new car franchises.
It is the biggest independent motor group in Scotland, with more than
30 sites. The group's annual turnover is estimated at #250m.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article